Grooved-end hollow building tile



H. R. STRAIGHT. GROOT/ED END HOLLOW BUILDING TILE.

APPLICATION mib 001. I4. 191s.

Patent@ @14,1922` ,III-l. a 1

Invent Of' H R, 5cm. At. @M/W9 UNITED STAIRS PIENT QE'HQE,

HALVER R. STRAIGHT, F ADEL, IOWA.

GRGOVED-END HOLLOW BUILDING TILE.

Application led October 14, 191,8.

To all 'whom t may concern.'

Be it known that l, Ham/'nn B. Sinner-rr, a citizen or' the United States, and a resident of Adel, in the county of Dallas and State oi' Iowa, have invented a certain new and ,useful Grooved-End Hollow Building Tile, oi' which the following is a specification.

The object of my invention is to provide a building tile or' the ordinary hollow type having the ends formed with grooves which are preferably arranged parallel with the face ot' the wall in which the building tile is mounted, the grooves being relatively small, whereby it is made possible to produce a masonr i structure having a bond ot' maximum e ciency at the mortar joints, and whereby the mortar is properly held during the pointing l up oi the joints` lll ith these and other objects in view my invention consists in the construction, ar-.

rangement and combination of the various parts of the device, whereby the objects contemplated are attained, las hereinafter more fully set forth, pointed out in my claims and illustratedin the accompanying drawings, in which:

Figure l shows a perspective view of a hollow tile building block embodying my invention; and

Figure Q shows a top or plan view ot two oit the blocks laid together' in a course.

In the accompanying drawings I have used the reference numeral to indicate generally the front wall or tace of a hollow tile building block having the top wall or tace ll, the rear wall or Yface l2 and the bottom wall 18. The tile is hollow and has a central vertical partition 14. The tile may he o t various sizes aud shapes but for illustration may be live inches high, eight inches wide, and twelve inches long, outside dimensions, with front and rear walls one inch thick, top and hot-tom walls three-fourths inch thick, and partitions tive-eighthsinch thick.

The end faces ot the surfaces ot the tile are provided with grooves 1G which are preterably arranged parallel lwith the outer tace ot the tile wall 10, as illustrated in Figure l.

These grooves are quitey small and may be arrangedjat various differentangles` but should not be at right-angles to the 'face of a wall, and I believev the best results are secured when the grooves are parallel `with the face oi the wall.

`Speecation of Letters Patent.

Patented Apr. 4, 1922.

Sel'il N0. 258,076.` y

The grooves are in the end only ot the tile.

In Figure 2 l have illustrated a portion or a wall in which two ot my improved tile are arranged .end to end in a masonry course with a layer of mortar 17 between them.

The advantages of these grooved end tile are very important. ,l

lVhen the one tile is laid up adjacent to another in the course, the mortar isnot held between two smooth surfaces, but is pressed into the grooves, and it is obvious that the mortar will be held in the joint better than would be the case where the end suritaces were smooth, because the mortar in `flowing outbetween the ends, as the ends are pressed together during the laying up process, will flow into the grooves and form ridges ot mortar of substantially the same shape as the grooves.

Naturally the tendency of the mortar to flow out at the sides ofV the wall is reduced when the mortar enters the grooves, because the ridges of mortar thus formed, prevent the floating of the mortar outward oven the tile ends on the ilm of moisture, which Yterms between the mortar and the tile'end, which floating occurs with a smooth end tile.

It thus follows that the mortar between the ends oi? theadjacent tile will endure a greater pressure without beingV floated or Jforced laterally from between the tile, and hence greater pressure can'beused in placing the-tileV adjacent to each other,v andI greater density in the mortar joint will be secured, which results in the#ormingof` a better bond between the mortar and tile than can besecured with smooth end tile.

lilith grooves in the endsv of the tile, the mortar fills the grooves almost immediately upon touching. At the same time there is a film ot moisture collected almost imuiediately between the mortar and the end of the tile. lit the tile is at all hard, this film ot' moisture lays between the surface ot' the mortar and the end of the tile and .the friction of the mortar across the endet a smooth tile is less than the friction oi the mortar across the end ot my grooved tile, together with the internal friction of the mortar Vover the mortar that has gone into the groove.

It is better to have a comparatively large number of grooves of slight depth than to have fewer grooves of greater depth, for the reason that even with shallow grooves` lll) . ing to the pressure because ot the better lVhen contact and moreair pressed out.

`this mortar finally sets it is more perfectly `bonded and is less liable to present weathering crevises thanV if pressed to .any degree less hard.

Therefore, mortar joints that are firmly bonded together between the ends of the tile, weather from the outside surface only, `while if not perfectly bonded and if Athe joint is in the least loose between the ends,

another surface is presented to the weatherin action of the elements.

ere the ends of the tile are smooth it is obvious that during the pointing up of the joint when a trowel is run along the mortar joint at `the surface `of the wall, there is a pressure inwardly on the mortar which sometimes results in breaking the adhesion between the mortar and the tile while the mortar is green.

The adhesion once loosened can never be entirely properly restored and when the adhesion has been so loosened no proper bond is ever secured and a water proof joint does not result.y

With my grooved end tile the pressure of the trowel in pointing up the joint will not loosen the joint because it is necessaryto sh ear the ridges above mentioned from 'the other portion of the mortar, and this I have found will not vbe done by the pressure ot the trowel during the pointing up.

Even ifthe tile is soft burned, the grooves still have great advantages, because the lm of moisture formed isabsorbed by the tile, and this destroys the possibility of the best bond, because moisture required by the mortar for crystallization ofY cement and `tallized thoroughly.

lime has been taken away by the tile, and the mortar is dried out rather than crys- Obviously mortar not thoroughly crystallized will be held more firmly in place between the grooved surfaces, than between smooth end tile, especally because the mortar in crystallizing expands slightly and aids in creating a better bond between grooved end tile, than between -smooth end tile.

Thus while the best bond can be secured with vitriied tile, my grooved end tile will provide a better mortar joint and the mortar will more properly set and will better remain in position with my tile than would be the case where the ends are smooth, and as a result a mortar joint of maximum efficiency is secured, and the possibility of moisture getting through the mortar joint is very greatly reduced.

Where the mortar properly sets at the proper time, and properly' bonds with the tile Vit is hard like stone and is not much subject to action of' the weather.`

lhere mortar is not properly set or does not properly bond it will be seen that it will be much more likely to chip olf or break olf owing to the action of the weather, or any shocksthat the wall may sustain.

It will be seen from the foregoing that instead of inclined vertical grooves, a great many forms of depressions in the end wall of the tile might be employed which would serve to receive mortar for forming ribs or their equivalents for making a mortar joint which would have very largely the advantages hereinbefore mentioned.

I claim as my invention;

l. A hollow tile block `for wall building purposes, having at eac-l1 end two upright side members and two horizontally* :1rrangedV connecting members, all of said members being formed with grooves, whereby mortar placed between two adjacent blocks may be compressed by'moving the.

blocks towards each other and the mortar forced into said grooves to thereby lock the motar in position by said grooves, and whereby the mortar between the side members is heldin place by being united to the mortar between the horizontal members.

2. A hollow building tile comprising a front wall, a back wall, and top and bottom walls connecting the said walls, the ends of the top and bottom walls lying in the same planes as the ends of the front and back walls, the ends of each ot said walls being provided with relatively small. shallow grooves designed to receive mortar placed between adjacent tiles so as to form an endless keyed bond at each end of the tile.

Des Moines, Iowa, October 9, 1918.

HALVER R. STRAIGHT. 

